Mariah Stewart - Cry Mercy

“Nick, are you certain?”

“Absolutely. You do the investigating, I'll do the zoo with Chloe.”

She nodded, more pleased than she was willing to show, and she typed her reply to Henry. He called her cell phone in response, and together they viewed a map of the zoo online to locate the main gate.

“He sounds like a really nice guy,” Emme told Nick after she hung up from Henry's call. “He and his sister are both really upset that they didn't realize something was amiss sooner. We'll meet them tomorrow at one, right inside the zoo gate.”

“Great. Tell Chloe to wear her walking shoes. I hear it's a really big zoo.” He moved closer to the table, his fingers on her keyboard. “May I?”

“Sure. What are you?…”

He pointed to the website for the Philadelphia Zoo that was still on her screen.

“Look here, America's first zoo. Check out all the habitats.” Nick pointed to the screen. “African plains. Australian animals. Bear country. Big cats. Rare animals. Which of those do you think Chloe would like?”

“All of them. She loves animals and is ridiculously curious.” Emme grabbed the mouse and clicked on Prairie dogs.

“She'll love these. But you're going to have to watch her like a hawk, Nick. She'll be trying to get right in there with them.”

“We'll set the rules with her before we get there, and we'll set an itinerary so that she'll be able to see you. I'm assuming you can walk and talk to Henry and Lori at the same time.”

“We might end up lagging behind at times, but having an itinerary is a really good idea. Then if it's crowded and we get separated, we'll know where the other is headed for next.” She clicked again on the screen and brought up a list of exhibits. “Let's do that now while we're thinking about it.”

An hour later, they had their Saturday afternoon mapped out, and Emme had her Realtor switch all of their appointments to Sunday. When they'd finished, Emme sent the command to the wireless printer in the room to print out two copies. She retrieved them just as the computer signaled incoming mail.

“Let's see who this is,” she said. “Oh, it's Hayley.”

I called Ava. She's very upset about Belle. I went on the message board and asked everyone to call or email you as soon as possible and tell you when they last heard from Belle. I told everyone that you're trying to help. And I emailed all the others who don't go on the board very often or who stopped going on at all. Everyone needs to know about this. Is there anything else you want me to do?

“Sweet girl,” Emme murmured as she began to type. “Since we can't read the messages that are posted on the board, except for the ones we write, I'm hoping Hayley will tell me if there's any rumbles going on about this on the message board.”

Hayley, you've been a huge help-we can't thank you enough. Please keep in touch, and let us know what's posted on the message board by the others.

“So now we go on to Aaron.” She began to compose the email. “Do we want this one from me, or from you?”

“Maybe from me. Getting an email from a private investigator might make him nervous.”

“Good point.” She nodded. “We'll send this one from Uncle Nick…”

They worked on the email for almost twenty minutes before they were satisfied with its contents.

“Let's send it before we change our minds again,” Nick said, his fingers poised.

“I agree. There's not much more we can say other than what we already have.” Emme ticked off the high points of the text. “We read the article, admire his creative mind. We know Belle was in contact with him, here's the situation with Belle. When did he last hear from her? How far had she gotten in her quest? Does he know if she completed her search? And more specifically, if she located Donor 1735, did she contact him?”

“That's it.” He hit send. “We're done. What else today?”

“That's it for now,” she said. “We're not going to know anything more until we hear from the others, and that could be anytime between now and never.”

“I think I'll head on back to the garage then.” Nick looked at his watch. “I have a '65 Mustang coming in this afternoon for an evaluation and I need to be there when the owner arrives. I'll let you know if I hear anything from Aaron.”

“So I'll meet you at the zoo tomorrow at one, then.” Emme closed her laptop.

“Maybe we should make it a little earlier, so Chloe and I can get to know each other a little,” Nick said thoughtfully. “Let's make it eleven thirty at the gate, and we can walk over to the Tiger Terrace and have lunch. I saw it on the map, it's near the middle of the zoo. That way, Chloe and I won't be total strangers when I walk her off to look at the animals. She might think it's strange that you let her walk away with someone she doesn't know.”

“Chloe believes that strangers are merely friends she hasn't met yet. She's entirely too trusting. But you're right. She needs to understand that I wouldn't let her walk away with just anyone. She should know that we're…” She fished for the right word. “Acquaintances.”

“Acquaintances?” He raised an eyebrow. “Is that the best we can do? After all, we've been spending a lot of time in each other's company. I'd like to think at this point, we're at least friends.”

“Friends.” Emme nodded. “Friends works.”

“Okay, then. I'll see you and Chloe tomorrow morning.”

“Great.” She walked him to the door. “Eleven thirty. At the front gate.”

“And if you hear anything noteworthy from any of the siblings-”

“I'll contact you.”

“Good. Well, then.” They reached her office door. “I guess I'll see you there.”

“Right.” She smiled and hugged her laptop to her chest. She stayed in the doorway and watched as Nick headed for the front of the house.

“Whoa,” someone whispered in her ear. “That was the uncle?”

“Yeah.” Emme turned to find Mallory enjoying the view as Nick disappeared around the slight bend in the hall.

“Nice jeans.” Mallory smiled and returned to her own office.

“Yeah.” Emme nodded in agreement. “Not bad.”

He stared at the screen, not quite believing what he was seeing. When it became apparent that he was not imagining the message he'd received, he smacked his fist on the desktop.

“Stupid bitch,” he growled. “Stupid, stupid bitch!”

He went on to the next message, which did little to improve his state of mind. Nor did the emails, which had been copied to all of the members of the group.

“God damn it.”

He rose, hoping to walk off the rage that was building inside him. It wasn't working.

“Why can't people mind their own fucking business?” he muttered as he paced the length of the room and back.

He returned to the screen, making mental notes of the wheres and the whens. Satisfied that he had all he needed to know, he turned off the computer. He just couldn't take anymore.

He left the house by the back door and walked out to the yard. A swim might help, he told himself as he passed the pool. The sun was high in the sky and the humidity was building by the hour. A swim, yes, a swim would help. He went to the pool house and changed into a suit he kept there. He grabbed a clean towel off the stack by the door and tossed it onto a lounge as he passed by. Walking directly to the deep end, he dove deeply, his fingers tracing along the bottom of the pool until he reached the shallow end. He surfaced quickly, the water sliding smoothly off his skin. He floated on his back for a moment, the itching inside him only growing more intense.

He began to do laps, hoping to wear down the feeling, but after nearly an hour, close to exhaustion, he realized exercise would not help. Not today, when he was so agitated.